The ad fraud issue could be more than twice as big as first thought — advertisers stand to lose $16.4 billion to it this year

The global online ad fraud problem could be costing advertisers
more than twice as much as first estimated, according to new
research released on Tuesday.

A study commissioned by WPP ad agencies The&Partnership and
conducted by ad verification company Adloox estimates advertisers
could be wasting $16.4 billion to fraudulent traffic and clicks
manufactured by bots in 2017.

Across the 200 billion bid requests, 50% were detected as being
either non-human traffic (either a bot or a hijacked device) or
fraudulent traffic, which includes bad actors trying to spoof
real web domains to attempt to pass off to ad buyers as premium
publishers.

The&Partnership founder Johnny Hornby said in a press release
that the figures serve as a "stark reminder" that the industry
has a duty to come together to rid the digital ecosystem of the
ad fraud problem.

He said in a statement:

"We have a duty to come together as an industry – from media
agencies and industry bodies, to big-platform players like Google
and Facebook; bringing in government help if we need it – in
order to protect our own future and those of our clients.

"Good work is already being done by many, including (ad industry
bodies) the ANA, IAB, ISBA and the IPA, as well as the recent
combined efforts of TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group) in the
US and JICWEB (the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards) in
the UK – but these new figures show that we need to move further,
much faster. And there are concrete steps we should all be taking
to make that happen."

He added that advertisers too need to take responsibility by
focusing on quality ad placements rather than cheap inventory.

Hornby said: "Clients likewise need to be willing to get
themselves off the drug of cheap digital media and invest in
proper band protection. Pre-bid verification technology costs all
of 3 pence per 1,000 impressions, accounting for about 2% of a
brand’s overall media spend – but, for all the diligent clients
out there, there are still plenty of others who are refusing to
pay for it. If nothing else, this report proves what a false
economy that is."